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The Obama Family 'Homecoming'
Like Obama’s March trip to Turkey—strategically folded into his “European” travels—the show in Ghana will address African issues, but avoid overreach. Obama told AllAfrica.com that he intends to “show that Africa is directly connected to our entire foreign-policy approach; that it's not some isolated thing where once every term you go visit Africa for a while to check that box.” Whereas he once asked his half-sister to tell a Kenyan merchant “I’m a Luo,” Obama now tends to discuss his personal attachment to the continent in the context of policy alone: “When my father left Kenya,” he added, “the GDP of Kenya and South Korea weren't equivalent—Kenya's was actually higher. What's happened over that 50-year period?”
But no matter how bloodless the White House strategy, the optics of the half-Kansan, half-Kenyan president’s return to the cradle of civilization are irresistible. What’s more, the Obama family’s journey to the western face of Africa—toward the jails and portals that anchored the triangle trade of slavery—invites a whole different cultural calculus.
The ugly centuries of traffic in black bodies from West Africa created the American experience that Michelle—a child of Chicago’s “black belt”—has always known. The president, meanwhile, has been a perpetual interloper in that experience, sharing the external markers of race in American society, but importing a decidedly hybrid backstory. He’s talked about the difficulty of hailing cabs, and being underestimated because of his race, but unlike his wife and daughters, none of his ancestors were sold into slavery.
It’s doubtful that Michelle will exhibit her husband’s trademark detachment when touring the hospital in Accra that houses young women who routinely die in childbirth, or the Cape Coast Castle from which millions of West Africans embarked on the deadly passage that sundered families and birthed centuries of cruelty and violence. Having traveled myself to similar terrain in west Africa, the encounter with such history does not invite the classic Obama cool.
If the particularities of diaspora and circumstance make the West Coast Michelle’s, the trip in general offers a specific opportunity for those interested in untangling the hyphens and hybridity involved in calling Obama a black president. It’s a fascinating riddle: Obama is an African American, whereas the identity he’s chosen—and the daughters he is raising—are African-American.
In the end, the labels may be the problem. After traveling to Kenya in 1988, Obama wrote: “Nairobi’s history refused to settle in orderly layers, as if what was then and what was now fell in constant, noisy collision.” The diplomatic stop in Ghana may likewise illuminate how the American and the African live in dynamic balance—even within one family.
Dayo Olopade is the Washington correspondent for TheRoot.com.
John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
Amateur Hour at the White House
Leslie H. Gelb, a former New York Times columnist and senior government official, is author of Power Rules: How Common Sense Can Rescue American Foreign Policy (HarperCollins 2009), a book that shows how to think about and use power in the 21st century. He is president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Going Rogue: The Index
Christopher Buckley's books include Supreme Courtship, The White House Mess, Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, and Florence of Arabia. He was chief speechwriter for Vice President George H.W. Bush, and is editor-at-large of ForbesLife magazine. His new book is Losing Mum and Pup, a memoir. Buckley's Daily Beast column is the winner of an Online Journalism Award in the category of Online Commentary.
The "cradle of civilization" is present-day Iraq. I think you meant "birthplace of humanity." Ghana is not that place, incidentally. The first modern humans almost certainly originated in EAST Africa.
Also, while she may be black, Michelle Obama is no more African than Jon Stewart, and considerably LESS African than Charlize Theron.
I am tired of this diaspora business among those who have never lived in (and some cases never visited) any country in sub-Saharan Africa. Most of us have no cultural relationship whatsoever with the places of our ancestry. Join us. Proclaiming difference and separation even under the guise of "pride" is bad for race relations in our country.
Good post.
I would add that history when truly examined never reveals good guys and bad guys. Anyone visiting the west African coast and sincerely investigating the history of that particular slave industry (there have been many since the dawn of civilization), would come up with a very disturbing picture of human nature in general.
I agree. I visited Cape Coast when I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger. It's clear - and it's part of the tour guides' narrative when showing visitors around Cape Coast - that locals (Africans) had to sell people in order to suppy the slave trade. Also, at the time, in the late 1990s, the chief of the village I lived in in Niger had 2 slaves.
Africa was where I learned the slave trade was based on dark sides of universal human nature. Humans of all color participated, and still do, in human trafficking and slavery.
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America's ties to Africa are ties of blood and slavery. That said, there are also ties of love: the millions of whites who fought as abolitionists and later as soldiers with the Northern forces of the civil war; the men and women, both white and black, who fought for black voting rights; those who taught at black colleges and believed in the power of ideas. So, though being "African American" is very real, it is also true that ALL Americans are bound together, by their history and their loves and their hates. I say this, because my great-great-grandmother was an abolitionist, my great-great grandfather fought in the Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment, my great grandfather taught at Hampton Institute for Blacks, and my family were northern teachers and business owners... and yes, my oldest and dearest friend, like Barack Obama, is an "African American", though his skin is whiter than mine (he was adopted by a "European American" family after being abandoned by his white mother and black father). We are all connected to Africa, some recently, others through ancient ties. All men and women have "African" genes and all are from the same human race.
Hithere3, it's extremely plausible that Michelle has roots in Ghana, and not just because she's an African American.
Michelle's family is from South Carolina, where slaves from (present-day) Ghana were heavily imported. The ethnicity of the slaves is documented in all sorts of plantation records (that are available online, BTW).
You say that most of have no cultural relationship whatsoever with places of our ancestry. That may be true where you live. But I live in Cleveland, and I've lived in cities throughout the Midwest, where white ethnics regularly maintain cultural and physical relationships with their motherland. If they're not traveling there, they're having festivals or forming dance troupes, etc.
Just ask an Italian American about the summer pilgrimages families take to the old home place in Italy.
The only person I know who takes regular trips to Italy says she has mostly English ancestry. She goes because Italy is pretty and the people are cool, which I second.
I have yet to meet a single Italian American who takes regular trips to Italy. So either my experience is atypical or yours is. I'd guess the latter. Cleveland is a special place. And not just because of your wondrous natural history museum and zoo!
What's great is that the next generation of Americans raised in semi-ghettoized neighborhoods feels more connected to one another irrespective of ethnic or racial background -- or even geography -- thanks to social networking Web sites. So this sort of crap is already on the way out, even in the eastern US where it is more common.
Out west ethnic ghettos are incredibly rare. Most are the result of a burst of immigration from one country, say, Armenia to Pasadena. There is an Armenian neighborhood there. But a Polish neighborhood in Portland? A Ghanian neighborhood in Denver? No such things.
Great article Dayo Olopade
hithere3
East Africa is the "Cradle of Civilization" There is no argument or challenge that NUBIANS were all Black people. They are the world's oldest known monarchy, bringing forth twelve pharaohs. The Nubians are the link between the high-culture of Kemet (Egypt) and central East Afrika. The Nubians had little or no foreign influence, nothing from Caucasoid or Asiatic cultures.
#2 No Afrikan has to apologize for colonization or slavery. Everything Indo-Europeans did to members of our race-family, they had already done to their own people.
#3 Afrika is the Land of the Blacks. Caucasian people settling on or born on Afrikan soil are not Afrikans. They are Europeans born in Afrika. To be Afrikan is to be Black. Melanin dominant. Make no mistake about it. To be Black is to
be of Afrikan descent, evolved from the human kingdom.
Wikipedia is a bad thing people to base your research on.
Fnally, those $ Africans that participated in the Slave trade were AGENTS for European countries. The agent works for the broker. Their was not one economy in Africa derived from the slave trade. Stop projecting this LIE.
Thutmoses -
1) Could be. My understanding is that all of us come from East African bloodstock.
2) Perhaps you are correct. Slavery was fairly universal around the planet, in the nation-states and city-states. Even so, Africans sold other Africans into slavery under European masters, the same way Europeans sold other Europeans into slavery under Islamic masters, the same way Islamic merchants and raiders took black Africans as slaves. Are apologies in order? And if so, by who (whom)?
3) Everyone alive or who has ever been alive traces their DNA back to Africa. Hence we're all Africans. Further, the white Euro-Africans living in Africa will eventually become black Euro-Africans, through the process of genetic adaptation to local conditions, etc. Takes a hell of a long time, but it will eventually happen.
Finally - Princes, even African Princes, will do anything for money and power and glory.
whipmawhopm said:
"Everyone alive or who has ever been alive traces their DNA back to Africa. Hence we're all Africans. Further, the white Euro-Africans living in Africa will eventually become black Euro-Africans, through the process of genetic adaptation to local conditions, etc. Takes a hell of a long time, but it will eventually happen"
This theory is actually false if this was the case Eskimos in Alaska wouldhave lost their skin color ages ago. The theory that holds more water is that white are inbred albinos who migrated to Europe. Though everyone may come from Africa a true African is melanin dominant.
Thutmoses:
Not even close to correct. And I didn't so much as glance at Wikipedia, as I am a professor of African History at Howard University.
Ancient Nubia was Africa's first BLACK civilization. The Egyptians were building true cities at least a thousand years before the origin of Nubia's cities. Also, you do realize Nubia is in EAST Africa, yes? Oh... You don't? That's a shame.
But more importantly, the cities of Mesopotamia are even older -- another thousand years, to about 5000-6000 years BC.
Lastly, to discount responsibility Africans have in slave trade will cause others to lose respect for you. While African warlords may not have driven the slave trade in an economic sense, they certainly engaged in it prior to European contact and did nothing to impede the slave trade. And why should they? They saw their prisoners from other tribes as less than human, just as many whites saw blacks at that time.
Your #3 comment is just racist, pure and simple -- unbelievably disrespectful to those Arabs, Indians, Malaysians, and whites who have called African countries their homes for generations.
Thutmoses - Give it long enough. A white population left in central Africa for a long, long, long time will turn black. Or at least the survivors will be black. I mean tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years. Adaptive behavior. No idea about the Eskimo.
I wish I could remember where I read this. Some book which included a section on the long term implications of whites colonizing central Africa.
Thutmoses - Of course, I could be wrong.
Michelle Obama is black thus she is African American. Please don't down play that. She is no more from the African than Jon Stewart but if she wasn't first lady she would be much less of an American than Jon Stewart. Because if she wasn't Michelle Obama and you saw her on the street you would probably have a different view of her. But she is an African American only because that is what we are labeled by the United States Government. I am personally tired of White people trying to down play the differences when as a race White people have better life chances based on their skin tone. So stop the whole separation crap that you are pushing. It is a fact and you need to deal with it, like we do everyday!
I agree with your intent, but also recall Whoopi Goldberg saying years ago that she found it offensive to be called an African American when her ancestors had been in this country longer than many white Americans' ancestors and no one called them European Americans. She prefers 'Black American.'
Most of my white ancestors came here in the 1600s & 1700s. My Native American ancestors married into their gene pool quite a lot. I also have a few blacks in my family tree. I look white, but in reality I'm a mixed bag of races because my ancestors did bi-racial marriages long before they were commonly accepted (i.e., back when you were run out of town on a rail and forced to move onto the next 'frontier'). I think our whole country is headed toward bi-racial integration, and in 300 hundred more years it really isn't going to matter what color you are because we'll all be brunettes with nice tans.
In the meantime, I don't get why race is such a big deal in so many people's minds. We are all Americans. No one is predisposed to be a better or worse person, smarter or dumber, nicer or meaner, because of the color of their skin. In the Obamas, I see a political family who were elected because they are smart, moral, good looking (let's face it, TV good-looks count), and profess to share many of middle class America's (i.e., the largest block of voters) values and worries for the future. Personally, that's why I voted for Obama - he commands attention when he speaks and I think he shares my core values. He could have been purple with pink stripes and I would have voted for him. He exudes intelligence, competence, and quiet confidence, traits I've missed in our presidents in the last 20-30 years.
When I watch a sports game, a movie, or TV show, listen to music, vote in an election, attend a cousin's wedding, go to work, etc., etc., it doesn't matter what color the people are around me. All I care about is if they're good at what they do and / or have likeable personalities. Race has - or should have - nothing to do with those last two things.
I think it's very sad that a race discussion even needs to continue in this country, but it's encouraging that younger generations seem to be much less prejudiced than previous generations. There's hope that we'll get there eventually. In the meantime, I think it's pretty cool that Obama has living relatives in Africa. He's proof that anyone in this country can live the American dream, and offers inspiration to other Americans, regardless of race, regardless of circumstances, that you can do almost anything with your life if you work hard and persevere.
But don't you think that on some level, removing the labels that highlight the fact that we have different pigment in our skin will be a step toward making those differences in pigment less meaningful?
If we educate people not to discriminate on the basis of skin color, then don't we also have to stop labeling people according to their skin tone?
I wonder why they even come here to post. I haven't seen so much hatred and ignorance among this country since we had the the cameras turned on America during the time of Bull Connors. What in the world has happened to the people in this nation. Since Mr.Obama was elected president it seems that the hatemongers have all slither from under their rocks. It is truly disgusting. They even write nasty and cruel things about the children. And most of them call themselves christians. They could better entertain themselves by finding the C Street website.
"The first modern humans almost certainly originated in EAST Africa."
Absolutely true, especially homo habilus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_habilis
Couldn't agree with hithere2 more!
Let's get rid of all the checkboxes that ask us to define ourselves! African-American makes no sense as a broad label--it implies that all people with dark skin are from Africa...which they are NOT. Can we just have one box that says HUMAN and call it a day?
I'm "white", of European, Native American and Hispanic descent, but I was born and raised here in the US of A and feel no particular kinship with Europeans, Latinos and Native Americans, other than the kinship that I feel with all people.
Also, I'm not sure why the article is titled as though it's going to be about Michelle Obama, when it's not. But it was extremely well-written and a pleasure to read, so cheers!
As much as many say get rid of the check boxes, it is the non-white community that keeps putting the check boxes there. We have a nominee for the Supreme Court and on Monday it has been announced that the GOP will attack her on the basis of that check box. Have we learned nothing from our past?
Well really that is what we are. Someone decided to remove Human and attach other words, sometimes negative, instead. When I hear that there is a mixed race whatever, I tend to think that there would be a human and maybe an alien or fish or something that is not considered human. This was done so as to create a pecking file and because of this pecking file we have these hyphed titles. It's like creating a melt, If you change the color of the melt then you are not acceptable, so you must work to change the melt to a soup, where things are added yet maintain their characteristics but can make the base of the soup very tasty so that all can enjoy. We're still working on that one and we are getting a tad closer. Once we reach that tastiness then we can all feel the same as you. Do you understand the metaphor?.
add to that mrs. obama is currently living in the lofty environs from which her husband continues the disastrous policies of his predecessor. ew!
didn't Mrs. Bush live there as well. Did you have problems with that? Or is that you feel Mrs Bush had the right to live there and Mrs. Obama does not, in your opinion?
Not half as bad as you on unity of our nation.
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I'm sure there's 25 million African citizens are more than grateful for the millions George Bush spent on African Aids programs..
All Obama is going to do is talk, give hope with an expiration date and no specifics
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Don't you think that presumptious? you didn't really know what George Bush was going to do until you read it or heard it. Now you should do the same thing for President Obama.....Wait and see what he will do. Then complain or applaud as you must.
You really are a racist, aren't you?
Yes, hithere3, our ancestors came from West Africa, cause your ancestors kidnapped them - and we feel a kinship to Africa the same way you feel a kinship to Europe, where your people originally came from.
As for the Cradle of Civilization - two words: Nile Valley!
Your civilization comes from the Egyptians, who were one of the Nile Valley societies that invented modern Western culture.
Uh, no, my ancestors did not "kidnap" your ancestors. First of all, you assume I'm white, which may be incorrect. Secondly you assume my family was either in America or was somehow involved in the slave trade, which I can tell you is categorically FALSE.
But thanks for assuming all these things about me. Makes your arguments look all the more credible.
Hithere3 makes a critical point. It's pathetic that the current White House and Congress act on the premise that all people of color are 'entitled,' poor and needy and all white people are 'privileged'--a clear divide. The Obamas take inordinate pride in their 'blackness' which only serves to separate and create distrust among races--a backwards focus. Disharmony and antagonism will be the inevitable results after all the progress towards equality.
Were it not for 'affirmative action,' created by a white president and Congress, neither Barack nor Michelle would likely have had opportunities to be educated in lofty institutions and be afforded entree to coveted positions in top law firms, empowering them to succeed.
As for the Gold Coast Castle in Ghana, it is a fact that greedy, wealthy African chiefs coveted the goods of European traders and offered their strongest men and women in exchange. These bodies were then sold by traders enroute to South America in the 16th and 17th centures to work in mines and on plantations. Read the history and do your own research. The 'white' man cannot take the blame for the institution of the slave trade.
Black Americans have more history and culture in the Americas than many of us whose ancestors immigrated from Europe, for the most part, in the 20th century. Do people of color realize that all families came poor and needy to the Americas? All should have pride in this country of opportunity for all. Let's leave divisiveness behind. It is non-productive.
You know, I get so tired of people telling me that the best and the brightest, if they are of color, came by it through "affirmative action". If there was that much affirmative action there would have been no places in the universities for those who are white. When and where did you get this idea? Those who did have the opportunity to attain one of these few spots had to have the brain power to stay there once allowed in. Black people were being well educated far before "affirmative Action". If you were not fortuate or bright enough to receive higher education, don't blame it on Affirmative Action, Blame it on your inabilities: less money, poor grades, less driven and down right thinking that White priviledge would continue to get you by. Why? because if you had 100 placements and twenty of them were closed to you, why couldn't you make it into one of the 80.....probably for the reasons listed. I think anyone who was a part of an affirmative action program and made the grade is stupid to allow anyone like you make them feel less or feel guilty about what they earned. If there had been equal opportunity from jump street there would have been no need for affirmative action. I suggest you brush up on Yourstory, known in this country as HIStory as OURstory is so blatantly left out or distorted.
Khrish: Take heart -- that is increasingly not the case. I think Americans can be proud of the MASSIVE progress we've made since the 1960s, and the progress we will make in the years ahead.
Yeah, do tell. Especially since that's what black people HAVE BEEN SAYING ALL ALONG when no one was listening ... until now ... suddenly, the president's black and someone's telling us what is and isn't good for race relations. Why come it was good when black folk was at the disadvantage, and not so good now? What changed so suddenly?
hithere3 i think you missed the entire point of the article. you said that "Michelle Obama is no more African than Jon Stewart." While that is true, what the writer is saying is actually supporting that statment. But Michelle is not African but African American. And she IS quite possibly descended from slaves and in that sense going to Ghana which was the launching point for bringing Africans to America in chains will be a "Homecoming" of sorts for Michelle Obama.
And the article is not as much about "pride" as it is about the emotionality Michelle Obama will feel when she comes to where her ancestors were quite possibly captured.
michelle is no more african than obama,there was slave trade on the east african coast,there are slave ports there too.Why are european black kids are taken to visit nazi camps much as there ancestors werent in these camps,or teaching of the holocust to african kids much as they didnt experience it.
Nah, she's just American. Like me. Maybe like you.
The only "African Americans" are people who immigrated to the US from an African country... maybe first generation. Maybe. But I'd just call 'em Americans to emphasize inclusion. i.e. how happy we are they came to live with us.
Of course, some of those Africans, like Charlize Theron and Isaac Mizrahi, may not be black.
But that's what you get for using geography to refer to what is REALLY meant by the term "African American" -- skin color. You get stuff at the fringes you don't want.
It is shocking the Republicans like Sessions, Steve King and Peter King continue to play the Race Card, even in 2009. They really don't have any other way to hang onto white voters except to play the Race Card and the Religion card every chance they get, and eveidently they lack any kind of moral reservations about doing this.
My ancestors were among the largest slave owners in the United States, and eevn some of them realized by the time of the Civil War that slavery's days were over, and supported the Union and abolition. It's really saying something that some of white white ancestors living on plantations in 1860 were more liberal than many of these Republicans today.
No wonder this country has made to real progress in 30 years with this generation of Republicans in change most of the time--the worst generation in American history,in my opinion.
mcmchugh99
It is shocking the Republicans like Sessions, Steve King and Peter King continue to play the Race Card, even in 2009
You MUST be joking. The only folks who play the race card are blacks and the pathetic liberal apologists who look down their nose at them. The rest of us conservatives (not republicans) actually really believe we are all equal and thus have the same expectations of everyone. We actually prefer to not to assume that someone of darker skin color are somehow inferior, which is obviously what the while liberal elitest must think.
Our president is where he is today and gets away with anything b/c of the "race card."
Whatever and Bush got to where he was based on legacy and White privledge. Yes the GOP has always use the race card. As a Black (as you put it, I personally prefer African American) we don't play the race card, we are the race card. Yes you do think you are superior, its part of your genetic make up. Obama is president because all of the White guys they hard were not as smart as him. He can't help it that he was the smartest guy in the room (except for Hillary, but I did say guy.) You conservatives don't think, that is what your problem is! Hence the death to your movement.
It is clear that your thinking has not evolved. You are obviously ignorant or extremely prejudiced. YOU MUST be joking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow. You play the role of a clearly morally superior, but misunderstood, caucasian human being very well. I am especially taken with the mixture of haughty disdain and burning resentment. There, there. It will be OK. The bad bad liberals and dark-skinned humans will not get you.
If you find these people so repulsive why do you seek out websites where you know they will be to come and spew your venom. I have no interest in going to Drudge Report or New Republican or any of those sites to post. I don't share their views and I'm not trying to interject myself by labeling them. They have the right to think and vote as they choose and I have the right to disagree with their thoughts and votes so i don't communicate with them. Have you tried that theory?
You must be kidding yourself. Someone has been serving you some potent "Mountain Dew". If you do feel this way you need to get the message to Sarah Palin and the rest of your Conservative Base. Your certainly do believe that we are equal, which means that although a man's feet have been chained he is placed next one who's feet are free and it's his fault if he can't keep up or if he can't WIN the race even. Go sell crazy some place else. I've been around a real long time and I know things you haven't even been let on to yet.
And what exactly has the President gotten away with.....THE MAJORITY OF THE VOTE? And are you suggesting that he did that b/c of the "race card"?
My goodness, if you believe that I have a real tall bridge painted gold in beautiful San Francisco that I want to sell you. Let's make a deal?
That was a pretty low shot at Bush after all he did for Africa.
It's a fact that President Bush gave more money, goods and healthcare to Africa than ANY U.S. president ever, in fact, than any other country ever. After all, the European countries colonized Africa to take their natural resources, then pulled out and left these countries in the Third World. The Africans were unprepared, unable and not ready to govern themselves. Thus the chaos today. The very same history due to the colonizers of the Middle East.
Could that have been the reason that this administration came in to such a huge deficient? Did he give the money in THEORY and leave it to the new administration to give the money in FACT if they could find it?
@ Neverlate that crazy dance Bush did was a low shot.
"Obama's immediate predecessors, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, seemed to view their African sojourns in 1998 and 2007 as face-saving opportunities...... for Bush, a last chance to be received warmly before leaving office."
Disgraceful. As an African immigrant to America I am ashamed that a black writer would say that about President Bush. He went more times than just 2007 and did a lot for the people of Africa during his time as president.
Why was Bush received so warmly? Because he saved MILLIONS of Africans from the ravishes of AIDS through the PREFAR program. In addition AGOA and the South African Customs Union helped Africans build themselves up through trade and not just a handout. All of these happened under President Bush.
Say what you want about Clinton, but President Bush did so much for Africans and saved so many lives that it says a lot about you and your lack of knowledge of recent history.
Obama is a great symbol for Africans and poor people all over the world, but Bush actually put money and productive policies behind his words, let's hope that Obama continues Bushes good work. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Great article Dayo Olopade
hithere3
East Africa is the "Cradle of Civilization" There is no argument or challenge that NUBIANS were all Black people. They are the world's oldest known monarchy, bringing forth
twelve pharaohs. The Nubians are the link between the high-culture of Kemet (Egypt) and central East Afrika. The Nubians had little or no foreign influence, nothing from Caucasoid or Asiatic cultures.
#2 No Afrikan has to apologize for colonization or slavery. Everything Indo-Europeans did to members of our race-family, they had already done to their own people.
#3 Afrika is the Land of the Blacks. Caucasian people settling on or born on Afrikan soil are not Afrikans. They are Europeans born in Afrika. To be Afrikan is to be Black. Melanin dominant. Make no mistake about it. To be Black is to
be of Afrikan descent, evolved from the human kingdom.
Wikipedia is a bad thing people to base your research on.
Fnally, those $ Africans that participated in the Slave trade were AGENTS for European countries. The agent works for the broker. Their was not one economy in Africa derived from the slave trade. Stop projecting this LIE.
President Bush did more and gave more money for aids in Africa. Yes I would agree that was a low shot at President Bush.
obama and michelle are all about playing the race card when it is convenient for them.
Ghana, Germany or Guatemala, it is time for Mr. Obama to stay home and get to work.
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Why? because you want him to hurry and clean up the mess that the last 8 years of ignorance and cowboy tactics caused. See! Even you got it. And a part of his work is Foreign Relations.....but oh, yes that was something that this country forgot about for 8 years. Maybe while he is away you can run on over to C Street and help clear up some of that nasty mess that's going on over there.....Or better yet, maybe you can help Sarah with her book....If she writes it no one will be able to read and understand the "Word Salad" that she uses as English
He's done more in his first 100 days then Bush did in 8 years. There is an irony in your statement.
He is working. He is repairing our reputation. The one the last guy destroyed.
Obama is President ONLY because millions of white, self professed, christians voted for a black man with a moslem name. Don't forget that when you discuss race relations in America. MILLIONS (including me). Without those MILLIONS of votes we'd be reading about president McCain foibles.
To the Editor of the NYTimesFebruary 21, 1988
Africa will forever be the place of common ancestory for all the Blacks of the Diaspora. And when we return, we can bond anew in spirit and fellowship. We can create a "bridge" which will be permanent and strong and the bridge will be called friendship. Its foundation is our common origin, its network is the interlacing of hands clasped in mutual aid, and the path will be suspended over the painful Middle Passage of the past and carry us as far as our hearts permit. Je reviendrai.
Phyllis C. Murray Feb. 21, 1988
And don't forget that those clasping hands in friendship also sold their neighboring tribesmen into European slavery. It was a great perk after intra-tribal battles. The losers were gotten rid of, the winners made a profit.
You never know who your friends -- or enemies -- are.
It would be wonderful to have a forum where you can come and discuss and exchange opinions with people intelligently. I don't understand why it always has to have intrusions from those who wish to make us take our conversations to a palinish level. Hang in their, we'll get our own place without intrusions from Repugnants after a while.
Obama is giving $63 Billion to Africa for healthcare. Such a great thing to help them to rely upon us. And we have no budget problems, this is great.
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dape there're slave ports on the east african coast too,there was slavery,colonialism in east africa by arabs and portugues and not west africa only.Bush has been to goree island another last stop for slaves.money and capital sh'd return back to the continet not to china and asian countries.
Maybe if the Conservative Dems and the Repubs would pass Healthcare reform here there wouldn't be so much envy of money for healthcare some place else.
"Most of us have no cultural relationship whatsoever with the places of our ancestry. Join us. Proclaiming difference and separation even under the guise of "pride" is bad for race relations in our country." - hithere3
Here's the difference: Blacks were brought here against their will. They were displaced, and live with that legacy. Someone who emigrated to this country chose to leave their original culture. and, actually most immigrants, whether they be Polish, Irish, Indian, whatever, retain much of their original cutlure while acquiring culture from their new country. African Americans didn't know where they came from, and so they chose/choose to learn a little about their homeland. The fact they do this isn't bad for race relations in our country. Unless of course, you think it is.
artbeefine - A good number of whites came here involuntarily. Not on the same scale as the blacks, but also without any choice in the matter. I am not referring to the religious or economic refugees that have come across the ocean over the centuries, but rather the good number of people from the UK literally forced to come here before the founding of the Republic.
Concerning you comment on culture, I suspect that you mean that other than the blacks stolen from African that peoples coming here were for the most part allowed to bring their way of life with them, and to maintain family ties - both nuclear and extended. I think this was the cruelest thing experienced by black under slavery, the treatment of black family life with contempt by the white masters.
I also think African-American retained some elements of the cultures (and it is plural) that they came from, and that these elements are all around us, some known and others unknown to the general population of Americans. I also think a lot of the African cultural elements blended together, also pulling in elements from other cultures.
Given long enough it's all going to blend together into a new race and culture. Maybe within the current century, except maybe for a for enclaves like Alaska.
Perhaps it's time for an article by Stanley Crouch.
It's a free country. We can all do whatever we damn well please and say whatever we damn well please, as long as it's not against the law that we ourselves have brought over us, through our complicated and mostly democratic government.
Any and all African-Americans not happy with living in these United States of America are perfect free to either leave or stay to affect whatever necessary change(s) that would make them happy. Likewise the rest of us hyphenated Americans can go back to our own point(s) of origin or work here for change.
Personally, I am in favor of working for change. It's already under way and of course much work remains, but it is unstoppable as an avalanche.
In closing, down with the Young Republicans.
I found it amazing in this thread.. how those who look totally opposite in appearance (speculation that you aren't black hithere3) can speak for other's in context as factual in mind, soul and in spirit ...and have no IDEAL how those have no connection with them outside of the exploits of the media in the negative sterotype ... and(hithere3) if you are african american..I feel sorry for you..
(hithere3).. what you are trying to do is re-write his- story with your statement to disconnect.. you have no ideal what connection THE FIRST LADY OF THIS NATION has with GHANA, unless she told you hershelf (did she?)
For those who think all Africa was.. or is.. are straving african children or anything else this nation enjoys exploiting to promote supremacy.. The contributions of EGYPT is in africa (not in europe).. the dynasty of the "MOORS" who conquered SPAIN and ITALY and operated this globe FIRST INTERNATIONAL TRADE SYSTEM.. like no era before it's time of the MOOR DYNASTY.. were africans.. well educated with an infrastructure civilization..
(hithere3)..Do you feel the same if americans who ancestry is tied to europe?
Do not european descendants of NOW modern day generation americans visit their ancestorial origin yearly.. as an FAMILY VACATION in europe?
However, you take exception if african americans visiting africa?
How dare you?
HOW ARE YOU?
HOW BIAS OF YOU..
How dare you say.. to be PROUD of your ancestry( not pride as you said).. promotes separation and is bad for race relations in this nation...
Ok free for speech.. but take some responsibility of your free speech of opinion..and accountability..otherwise expect to be called out on the carpet...demonstrating your bias ignorance..
If we do not recognize as humans.. we all have something to contribute to the human race based upon our cultural differences..more-so beneficial than not.....BUT what divides us.. is to not recognize and appreciate as americans our cultural differences as a nation> is outragious, in fact, it would be disingenous to not learn and understand different cultures as americans.. if not, we would not evolved as a nation to embrace the ideal of what being an american IS..
..and further ignorance to the 10th power demonstrated.. is when you and others agreed..when you stated.. "Most of us have no cultural relationship whatsoever with the places of our ancestry"..
MOST?
..are you serious?..
..do you know how many different nationalities of other nations migrate to this nation yearly?
..and I suppose these PPL just disconnect totally from their ancestrial nation from the year before and forever more?
Let me tell you something.. you going to CONTINUE to be SICK and tired of the disapora business..WHO HAVE connected to their ancestry place of origin> NOT DENIED and MADE known..regardless if you like it or not..get over yourshelf..you probably won't be soooo sick and tired..(LOL)
Long response. Thanks, I guess.
My skin color is none of your business. I may be black. I hope you would not feel sorry for me if that were the case, but if you do, it reflects poorly on you, not me.
I feel exactly the same way about "European" Americans as "African" Americans. I would like us to embrace our commonalities as Americans (championship of humanistic ideals rather than arcane and often silly cultural traditions).
The fact is, most Americans do not maintain a direct cultural relationship with the places of their ancestry, in many cases because that ancestry is now excessively split, whether it be between a dozen Asian countries or a dozen African countries or a dozen European countries -- or admixture thanks to the wonderfully more common interracial marriages.
There do continue to be Italian and Armenian and Ghanian neighborhoods, primarily on the east side of the United States, but they are increasingly rare, and in the case of most "Little Italies" they are more tourist attractions now than actual ethnic ghettos.
There is no reason to be "proud" of one's own ancestry than to be proud of anyone else's ancestry. You had no control over that -- you didn't earn it and you didn't even select it. It was something you were born into, if you believe in that sort of thing. That isn't to say cultural traditions are meaningless or bad, exactly, just that pride is irrational and probably bad for cultural solvency.
If you don't understand what I'm saying, that's OK. But I hope you will think more deeply about cohesion and what it actually requires.
From reading through the responses I think I've come to understand what hithere3 is trying to say. In a nut shell it's more beneficial to look at things that make us similar than to focus on all the reasons why were different.
Sure, but that's not the reflex that allowed us to survive.
And it's a reflex that will remain, no matter how much political correctness is preached and regurgitated.
We know, by "American instinct" and by learned behavior, that certain subjects are off limits and that to explore them risks, at best embarrassment, and, at worst, the questioning of one's character. ~ US Attorney General Eric Holder
I understand hithere3's point, though I think it applies to all Americans in general, not just the African-Americans, but including the Japanese-Americans, the German-Americans, the Franco-Americans, the Italian-Americans, the Korean-Americans, the Turkish-Americans, and those people that escaped the UK, etc.
We're from here, not from there. There is fun to visit, maybe, but we live here not there. Except for a few of us. Like I wouldn't mind living in Munich for a couple of years and learning to talk beer.
Even so, I think the article was incorrectly titled. I think for the Obama's home is where the heart is, somewhere in Chicagoland I would guess, stretching to DC, encompassing their children and their friends, taking in all of America. Something like that.
Thank you.
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